Kenya is on the right path towards gender equality

Women are the pillars of any given society.

As Africa’s Marxist revolutionary and Pan-Africanist theorist, the late President of Burkina Faso Thomas Sankara, rightly put it: “The revolution and women’s liberation go together. We do not talk of women’s emancipation as an act of charity or out of a surge of human compassion. It is a basic necessity for the revolution to triumph. Women hold up the other half of the sky.”

The Vision 2030 emphasises on policies aimed at empowering vulnerable groups to enable them to take part fully in nation building. Its focus is on gender, children and social development.

This pillar cannot be achieved without deliberately involving women at each and every stage. The key goal is to reduce gender disparities and let women and equitably benefit from the outcomes of the projects. Women constitute over 50 per cent of the population and therefore involving them is inevitable.

From a patriarchal culture, Kenya is rapidly closing the gender gap and allowing women to exploit their potential. The 2016 African Human Development Index ranked Kenya 18 in Africa and 145 globally in advancing gender equality.

As we celebrate, we need not to forget that this path cannot be walked alone. Men should take the lead in breaking all the barriers and ensure women and girls are able to achieve their aspirations without limitations. Joseph Njuguna, via email